Another Chance at Romance, Lance
by Red Witch
Summary: This one's got a little bit of everything folks! Humor, angst, explosions....The day after Lance left the XMen, he and Kitty decide to continue their relationship, much to the chagrin of both their teammates!


**Disclaimer: Okay I don't own X-men but since there's two weeks until a new episode I decided to continue the saga of Lance and Kitty! Hopefully this will not wreck any continuity. Oh well if it does I can always say it happened and Xavier wiped everyone's mind! This takes place the day after Lance left the X-Men. **

**Another Chance at Romance Lance**

_Well another day at school,_ Lance Alvers thought to himself as he went to class. _Another stupid day at this stupid school with the stupid X-Geeks and their stupid attitudes and other stupid stuff! And they say the Brotherhood cause trouble? Please! At least we don't shoot missiles at people. Um…okay technically I did. But how was I to know that wasn't the PA system? Stupid X-Geeks! What was I thinking? Well at least Kitty's not mad at me. That's worth something I guess._

"Lance!" Kitty called out to him just before he entered Chemistry. 

"Huh?" Lance startled. "Hey Kitty."

"So how are you doing?" She asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Well yeah," Lance answered as they went in and sat down. "Why do you ask? Oh come on, you're not worried at what the guys were gonna do to me? They understood. Everything's okay." _Once I got the duct tape off._

"Lance I'm sorry about everything," Kitty told him. "I know you left because of the way everyone treated you. It's not fair."

"No, but it's not your fault," Lance shrugged. "Hey, so it didn't work out. That's okay. That doesn't mean we can't be friends now can't we?"

"No it doesn't!" Kitty sighed. "It's just I miss you. I kinda got used to you being there."

"Yeah well," Lance really didn't want to tell her the truth: The X-mansion gave him the creeps. "I miss you too. But like I said, So it didn't work out. Big deal. It just makes our time together more special."

"Oh please someone get me an airsick bag before I vomit all over the floor!"

They turned around and saw Risty glaring at them. "What are you doing in this class?" Lance asked.

"I got transferred," She sniffed. "If I had to spend one more class sitting next to Pietro I would have jumped off a cliff! So what's all this I hear about you two?" 

"Well…" Kitty hesitated. "Lance and I are well…um…You see he…uh…"

"We're good friends," Lance spoke up. 

"Hmm," She eyed them suspiciously. "Sounds like you two are a bit more than friends. I'd be careful if I were you Kitty. Hanging out with the likes of him could get you into trouble."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lance asked. 

"It means you're not exactly Mr. Popular around here are you?" She smirked. "Let's face it, she lives in that nice fancy mansion and is an honor student. While you…well. The phrase "Wrong side of the tracks" comes to mind."

"So what?" Lance was getting defensive. "What business is that of yours? What do you care if I decide to ask Kitty on a date for this Friday?" 

"This Friday?" Kitty asked. "Really!"

"You can't be seriously thinking you'll go out with this moron?" Risty looked like she was going to explode. 

"The only moron around here is you!" Lance snapped. "Hit the road!" 

"Humph!" Risty stuck her nose in the air and went to her seat. 

"What's with her?" Kitty asked. "She's usually so nice."

"Must be hanging with Rogue too long," Lance snickered.

"Yeah like her personality is totally rubbing off on her!" Kitty agreed, giggling. 

The sub came in and the class was assigned their reading material for the day. Kitty scribbled a note and passed it to Lance. **I hate having subs for a month! I wish Mr. McCoy was back in school!**

Lance smiled and scribbled back: **Yeah. At least with him we got to do cool stuff! Normally I wouldn't care about having subs non-stop, but man I hate doing bookwork everyday! And in the one class I really like! It figures. All my other classes I wouldn't care. Well at least we can get away with writing notes to each other. As long as we're quiet and don't set the school on fire, subs don't care what we do!**

Kitty smiled: **At least this sub isn't going on and on complaining about his love life!**

Lance quietly chuckled: **I don't know. Personally I found that class particularly interesting. Especially when he called his ex-girlfriend and had a breakdown right in front of the whole class!**

Lance looked and saw Risty glaring at him. He didn't like it. **What is it with Risty today?** Kitty wrote. 

**She thinks she's so much better than the rest of us! **Lance wrote back. Then an idea popped into his head. Risty was secretly sipping a soda in class. **My my. Miss Goody Good is breaking the rules! Maybe someone should help the poor sub out of this flagrant violation of the rules!**

"Lance what are you going to do?" Kitty hissed.

"Just watch," He whispered back. He got up and pretended he was going to throw a paper away in the trash barrel. He walked past Risty's desk and gave off a tiny tremor-small enough to shake only her seat. Risty let out a yelp. The sub glared at her and told her to be quiet as Lance then took some more paper from the desk. Then he walked back to the desk and dropped the papers. Right near Risty's desk. As he picked up the papers he quickly tapped the soda can and gave off a seismic wave small enough to be unnoticed by the rest of the class, but big enough to shake the can and splatter soda everywhere.

"Hey!" Lance pretended to be shocked as a rush of soda splattered all over Risty and him. "Watch it!"

"What? My soda!" Risty shouted.

"What's going on here?" The near asleep sub woke up and was very annoyed at being disturbed. 

"Risty soaked me with her soda for no reason!" Lance snapped. "She ain't even supposed to be having those things in here!"

"But I…" Risty protested.

"Thanks a lot Risty!" Lance snapped giving what he believed was an academy award performance. "Now I gotta get more paper! Way to go! You jerk!" 

"Risty you made a mess!" Kitty shouted, getting into the act. 

"But it's not my fault!" Risty protested. "It just…!"

"What? Exploded on it's own?" The sub glared. "Risty! Detention!" 

"What! But I…" She protested. 

"Go to the office now!" 

Risty glared at Lance and Kitty. Lance was pretending to get paper and write his assignment. She stormed out. When she left Lance and Kitty found it hard to contain themselves. 

**That was totally mean!** Kitty wrote.

"I know," Lance whispered. "But fun."

"True!" 

At lunchtime the Brotherhood members were looking for Lance. "Where is he?" Pietro fumed, impatiently tapping his foot. 

"You don't think he went back to the X-Jerks do you?" Todd asked.

"There he is!" Fred pointed out. "Oh look who he's sitting with."

"He doesn't learn doesn't he?" Tabitha glared as she saw Lance sitting under a tree with Kitty eating lunch. "Jerk!"

"Ooooh!" Pietro mocked. "Somebody's jealous!"

"I am not!" Tabitha snapped.

"Are too!" Pietro camped it up. "Rarrr! Cat fight! Cat fight!"

"Shove it Speedy!" Tabitha shoved him. "If that jerk wants to moon over that little twerp I couldn't care less!" 

"I think Tabby's got a crush!" Todd mocked. "Tabby loves Lance! Tabby loves Lance!"

"You mean she's not in love with me?" Pietro put his arm to his forehead and pretended to swoon. "Tabitha! I'm crushed!"

"Aw come on Pietro," Fred flexed his muscles. "She'd rather have a real man like me! Right Tabby?" 

"I like you Tabby," Todd blinked. "You're pretty!"

"You guys are so immature!" Tabitha rolled her eyes. 

"Aw come on Tabby you know you want me," Pietro winked. "You're just playing hard to get!" 

"How about I play marbles with your eyeballs?" She balled up a fist and shook it in Pietro's face.

"Oooh! Feisty!" Pietro purred. 

"Hey there's Tabby's real boyfriend!" Todd chuckled pointing to Kurt. 

"Excuse me boys," Tabitha said, walking away. "I'd like to talk to someone that actually has a life!"

Kurt was sitting under a tree alone. "Hey Blue," Tabitha snuck behind him. "Haven't seen you around much lately!"

"Well that's because thanks to you I've been grounded for nearly two months!" Kurt told her. 

"Aw you're not still mad about that are you?" She smiled sweetly and blinked her eyes. She leaned closer towards him. Kurt looked startled. "Come on, you wanna do something later? It'll be fun!"

"Thanks but no thanks," Kurt said. "I just got off probation! I am in no hurry to get into trouble again!"

"It won't be anything like that!" Tabitha squeezed his arm. "I promise."

"That's what you said the last time!" Kurt snapped. He looked over. "What is she doing with that creep?"

"Who Kitty?" Tabitha asked. "Forget about her. Come on, let's hang out after school shall we?"

"Maybe some other time," Kurt pulled away and got up. "One Brotherhood member hanging around us is more than enough." He glared at Lance and stormed away. 

Tabitha made a face. "Everybody loves Kitty," she sneered. "Kitty this and Kitty that! I can't stand it!" She looked over at the Brotherhood table and they were all laughing and pointing at her. "Okay time to see what those two lovebirds over there are doing." She made her way to Lance and Kitty.

Under the tree, Kitty was sharing her lunch with Lance. "So you wanna do something after school?" Kitty asked. 

"I can't," Lance's eyes darted away from her. "I gotta do something."

"Like what?" She asked.

"I can't tell you," Lance said sheepishly. 

"Why you're not gonna steal anything are you?" Kitty asked suspiciously. 

"No," Lance looked away.

"Tell me! And it better be the truth!" Kitty said. 

"Okay! Okay! I gotta take Toad to the zoo," Lance muttered. He could not look at Kitty.

"You what?" Her eyes widened.

"Don't make me say it again," Lance rolled his eyes. "Let's just say I have to make up for the time I spent with you." 

"Oh boy," Kitty went pale. "I don't think I wanna know any more. Okay so where do you wanna go on our date Friday?"

"What date Friday?" Tabitha asked as she appeared. 

"Tabby I'm not going to leave the Brotherhood again so stop spying on me!" Lance told her. 

"Spying? Moi?" She put a hand to her chest and gave her most innocent look. "I was just coming over to say hi! Be friendly! You know both X-men and Brotherhood are both mutants right? So we should get along better! That's all. Be friendly. Share the love. So you two are going out Friday. That's cool. Hey Kitty maybe you should come over sometime. Hang out at the Brotherhood house. See Lance's woobie."

"His what?" Kitty asked. Lance turned very pale. 

"His cute little baby blanket he keeps under his pillow at night," Tabitha smiled. 

"Okay is that the bell? Yes I think it is!" Lance got up and grabbed Tabitha. "Okay see you later Kitty, come on Tabby!" He yanked her away from Kitty. 

Kitty chuckled with amusement at the scene. "What's so funny?" Kurt walked up to her. Bobby, Scott, and Jubilee were with him. 

"Nothing," She shook her head. 

"You should be careful around Lance," Scott frowned. 

"Scott if I can handle things like Sabertooth and a bunch of jets filing missiles at me I think I can handle Lance," Kitty said. "You know he still would have stayed with us if it wasn't for you guys! You were like totally mean to him without any reason!"

"Hey we have a reason!" Kurt said. "He's a jerk!"

"Get over it Kurt!" Kitty got up. "You're just jealous. I'm not gonna stop seeing Lance so you know what? Deal with it!" She walked away in a huff. 

As Kitty rounded a corner she heard, "And here I thought you were just a total ball of fluff. Well, I guess I was wrong about you. Kitty-cats do have claws!"

Kitty whirled around to face Tabitha leaning against the wall of the school. "Are you gonna hassle me about Lance too?"

"Yeah like I care about that moron," She huffed. "I just don't wanna see him hurt anymore. You X-Geeks like to control everything around you. Well don't do that to Lance! He may act tough, but we both know he's totally hopeless! So don't mess with him!" 

"Oh?" Kitty said. "Hey at least I don't lie to a guy and get him in trouble and ditch him when things get tough!"

"Watch it X-Geek!" Tabitha clenched her fists.

"Or what?" Kitty stared her down. "Just because you screwed up with Kurt don't go blaming me for your social life, or should I say lack of one?"

"Look who's talking," Tabitha snapped. "Miss Wallflower of America!"

"You know Tabitha, green is really not your color," Kitty smiled. "You know I'd love to stay and chat but I hear my life calling." She walked away.

"You realize of course this means war," Tabitha folded her arms

Later on that day at the Brotherhood house…

"That is the last time I ever take any of you losers anywhere!" Lance stormed into the house. "No more! Never ever again! After what you guys pulled today we're lucky not to be in jail!" 

Tabitha came downstairs. "What happened? What did they do?"

"What didn't they do?" Lance groaned as the rest of the Brotherhood entered the room. Fred came in last carrying several balloons.

"Balloon?" He smiled and offered one to Tabitha. 

"Ooh, Pink!" She squealed with delight.

"Wonderful," Lance sighed. "I swear I should have left you guys there! You'd have all fit right in there at the zoo!" 

"Sorry I missed it," Tabitha said.

"Don't worry," Pietro cackled. "I got it all on tape."

"Neat! Oh by the way," Tabitha drawled. "If you need any help deciding what to wear for your big date with Kitty, I'd be happy to help."

"What did she say yo?" Todd's mouth dropped. Lance made a mental note to kill Tabitha someday. 

"Okay I'm taking Kitty on a date this Friday so don't give me any grief!" Lance said quickly. 

The guys stared at him. Todd's mouth was still open. None of them said a word. Lance ran to his room and slammed the door shut. Before he had a chance to fling himself on the bed Pietro zipped into his room. "I can't believe you!" he yelled.

"Hey Pietro come on in," Lance muttered sarcastically. "Don't start with me!"

Pietro shook his head. "You've only been back here, what a day? And already you're consorting with those X-Geeks again!"

"Not all the X-Geeks: one X-Geek! Kitty!" Lance said defiantly. "I'm not one of them Pietro. I know that now."

"Do you?" Pietro's eyes grew cold. "Have you forgotten how they treated you? How they didn't care if you got the blame for stuff you didn't even do? How they didn't even want you there?"

"No," Lance looked away. "I'll never forget that. But Kitty was different! She was nice to me! She even tried to help me! I'll never forget that! I still love her!"

"You know Lance I'd accuse you of being a traitor if I didn't know what a lovesick lunatic you are," Pietro sighed.

"You think I wanted this?" Lance shouted. "You think I just woke up one morning and said to myself: "I'm bored. How can I make my life more complicated? Oh I know! I'll fall in love with one of the X-men!" I can't help how I feel! Believe me I wish I could just switch off my feelings and hate her. Do you know how much happier I would be if I could do that? But I can't! No matter how hard I try I can't! Did you really think I wanted to be an X-man? I just couldn't think up of any other way to be with her! I knew she'd never leave her group of geeks so I thought…I don't know what I thought! All I know is that I can't stop thinking about her! Do you have any idea how painful it is to be in love with someone you can't be with? It's the first thought you have when you wake up and the last think you think of when you go to sleep! It feels like something is tearing you up inside and you can't stop it!" Tears started to form in his eyes. He turned his back to Pietro so he wouldn't see them fall. "Why can't we just be together? Mystique's gone. She can't tell us what to do anymore. And the great almighty Magneto just disappeared without a word."

Pietro sighed and put his hand on Lance's shoulder. "Yeah, some help **they** were. Okay. Okay Lance don't go having a mental breakdown on me huh? I kinda know what it's like to be separated form someone you care about. So I guess I can forgive you for your stupid infatuation with Kitty. A little. Not much, just a tiny microscopic bit." He folded his arms. 

Lance collected himself. He turned around. "Pietro," Lance said quietly. "Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah," Pietro pretended to sound bored. He smiled. "You're still an idiot you know."

"I know," Lance smiled. 

"And you still owe us big time for letting you back in the Brotherhood!"

"I know. I know."

"And how privileged you are to be forgiven by someone as wonderful and understanding as I am. And you will do me all sorts of wonderful favors and…"

"Don't push it!" Lance groaned. Pietro grinned and playfully punched Lance in the shoulder. With a mild laugh Lance tried to shove him back. Pietro zipped out of reach.

"Too slow!" Pietro crowed. "Hey look at the bright side, out of all the X-Geeks, Kitty's not the worst you could get hung up on! You could be stuck on Jean! Or Rogue or…even Summers!"

"Don't even go there Pietro!" Lance snapped and threw a pillow at him. Pietro easily dodged it and blew a raspberry. With a laugh he zipped downstairs. Lance shook his head and flopped on his bed, daydreaming about Kitty.

"Well?" Todd asked when Pietro came downstairs. They were all congregated in the living room waiting for the latest development of Lance's love life. 

"He's still gonna see Kitty," Pietro shrugged. The others gave a collective groan. "Hey we all know that Lance isn't exactly the fastest learner around here. Look, he may be an idiot, but he's **our** idiot. So it's up to us to look out for him so he doesn't pull any more stupid mistakes." 

"And how do we do that?" Todd asked angrily.

"I have an idea," Tabitha gave a wicked smile.

Friday night came quickly. Lance had found his only pair of jeans without any holes in them. "Do I look okay?" Lance asked adjusting his hair for the fourteenth time that hour. 

"No you are a hideous freak that should only go out wearing a bag over his head," Pietro groaned rolling his eyes. "Calm down will ya? It's just a date!"

"It's a date with Kitty!" Lance snapped. "What do you think?" He presented himself.

"I think you should have a lobotomy," Pietro replied. "You're fine. Go get her. Have fun."

"Thanks," Lance sighed and went to his car. Nervously he drove up to the X-Mansion. He parked the car and walked up the stairs to the door, only detouring for a moment to swipe a rose from the bushes. He pricked his finger and silently swore to himself as he went up the steps. He rang the bell and tried not to get pinched by the thorns again. Kitty opened the door. She smiled as Lance sheepishly handed her a rose. 

"Lance how thoughtful!" She smiled. "Do you wanna come in for a minute?" she invited him in. 

"Um okay," Lance came in the door and saw Logan standing there with his arms folded. _This was not a good idea._ He thought to himself. 

"So where are you kids going?" Logan asked. 

"Well um, we're just going to hang out," Lance fidgeted

"Yeah. Well you don't need money to have a good time anyway," Logan said. "In fact some of the best dates I ever had as a kid was when I didn't have any cash. I just took my girl and…" He stopped cold. Then he reached for his wallet. "Look, here's a hundred bucks. Go see a movie or something. Spend it all! Please!" 

"Okay," Lance said. "Don't worry I'll have her home before midnight. Later!" He and Kitty left. Scott walked in and watched them leave. Kurt bamfed in. 

"You put the homing device on the jeep?" Scott asked.

"Yup," Kurt nodded.

"Oh no," Logan groaned. "You guys are headed for a world of hurt. You know that?"

"Hey we can handle Alvers and his goon squad!" Scott said.

"I'm talking about Kitty when she finds out you morons are spying on her!" Logan said. "I know I should stop you or something but right now I have a major headache to deal with. Just don't come crying to me when she kicks your butts." He shook his head and walked away. 

Back on the road Kitty and Lance decided to get a bite to eat. Lance smiled as he turned on the radio and watched Kitty bop to the music in her seat. _Everything's going my way! Kitty's with me!_ He felt wonderful. _I never thought this would happen this way. I'm happy. I'm really happy!_

"Kitty," Lance fumbled for the words as they drove into the parking lot at Chili's. "I wanna say…thanks. You know, for giving me a chance. And being nice to me when…well you know."

"Are you sure you won't change your mind and come back?" she asked.

"Kitty we both know it wouldn't work," Lance sighed as he parked the car. "They'll never accept me, not that I'd fit in anyway. I belong with the Brotherhood. I know that now. Hey don't sweat it!" He took her face in his hand. "It doesn't mean we can't be together! Magneto and Mystique are history right? So there's really nothing standing in our way really. Right?"

"I guess," Kitty sighed. 

"Look not that I don't appreciate the offer," Lance pulled away and fidgeted. "That means a lot coming from you. Really. It's just…"

"Yeah I know," Kitty said. "So are we gonna go eat or what?"

"Now you're talking!" Lance smiled as they got out of the car. "This will be great! See we can go out and nothing bad will happen!" 

They walked into the restaurant. Little did they know a small figure popped out behind several cars. Well, more like hopped out. Todd hid behind the car and watched them go in. He was wearing a camouflage outfit. He clicked on a walkie-talkie. "They've gone inside the building. Over."

"Good," Tabitha's voice came over the speaker. "Keep an eye out for X-Geeks."

"Ah don't worry!" Todd puffed as he walked around. "Like an X-Geek would show up a million miles from HEY!" 

"YEEOWCH!" Kurt yelped. He was in his battle uniform. "You stepped on my tail! What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Todd shot back.

"Toad!"

"Fuzz Boy!"

"Slime bucket!"

"Furball!"

"Wart Farm!"

"Flea Farm!"

"Hang on Nightcrawler," Evan popped up from nowhere. "I got ya back!"

"Well well," Pietro zipped in wearing a general's uniform. "If it isn't the Geek Patrol."

"What the heck are you wearing?" Evan asked. "You look like a bigger idiot than usual!"

"Be careful how you address an officer!" Pietro snapped. 

"Officer of what? The Loser Brigade?" Evan snapped. 

"At least we ain't members of the Geek Patrol!" Todd snapped. 

"You want some of this?" Kurt made a fist.

" Bring it on!" Pietro made a fist of his own.

"This is not good," Scott said from his hidden post. He was watching from a grove of trees using binoculars. 

"I can't believe you made me give up a date with Duncan for this!" Jean snapped. 

"Jean just go inside and check on them," Scott groaned as he put down the binoculars.

"I told you that we should leave them alone," Jean continued. "But noooooo! You have to play tough guy rescuer. This is so mature."

"Look can we talk about this some other time? We got a battle going on!" Scott asked.

"Rogue had the right idea," Jean pouted and folded her arms. "I should have called one of my other friends and went out."

"Jean get inside the restaurant and see what's going on will ya?" Scott snapped. 

"Oh sure," Jean drawled. "I'll just walk right in and sit down in this outfit like no one is going to pay any attention!" They were both wearing their battle uniforms.

"Just sneak in the back and spy on them from the kitchen!" Scott ran off. "That's an order!"

"That's an order," Jean mocked as she snuck inside the back door of the restaurant. She grabbed a stray chef's coat and put it on. "Yeah. This will work. If it wasn't for Kitty I'd…"

"Hey you!" A voice rang out. 

"Huh?" Jean blanched at having been caught. Suddenly a huge pot with some kind of sauce was dumped on her head. 

"Hello!" Fred smiled wearing a chef's outfit of his own. "Want some onion rings to go with that?" He banged on the pot repeatedly with a spoon. He lifted it up and Jean passed out cold on the floor, covered with sauce. "Ooops! Sorry! All I had were rings! Heh! Heh!" 

Fred peeked out the door of the kitchen. He saw Lance and Kitty holding hands at their table. "Perfect view," He smiled. "Ooh! And snacks!" He munched on an Awesome Blossom.

Lance and Kitty were oblivious to everything but each other. "This is really a nice place," Kitty remarked. "Casual dining yet festive. I'm starving. Are you?"

"Yeah. This is so great," Lance smiled. "Just you and me. Alone."

"Yeah," Kitty smiled back and held his hand. "For once its nice to be just a regular kid. To be on a normal date where nothing weird happens."

"Tonight is just about us," Lance said. "No powers. No fighting. No craziness. Just us."

Outside in the parking lot…

"Heads up Scottie!" Tabitha laughed an evil laugh as she threw an energy bomb at Scott's backside.

"YEEEOWCH! MY BUTT!" Scott yelped in pain. "YOU ARE DEAD BOOM BOOM!" 

Todd and Kurt were rolling around on the ground trying to beat each other up. 

"Let go of my tail Toad!" Kurt yelped in pain.

"You left go oooff my tuung fluzzy!" Todd tried to yelp.

Evan was trying to shoot spikes at Pietro, but all he was able to destroy were several cars. "Uh oh," Pietro snickered. "I know where someone's allowance is going for the next thirty years!"

"Okay that's it!" Scott snapped. "Now we're getting serious!"

"You want serious?" Tabitha launched a huge energy bomb. "Try this!" The bomb missed Scott but landed in a car.

A huge explosion rattled the windows of the restaurant, startling the people inside. Including two teenage mutants. "What was that?" Kitty yelped.

"Please let it be a car backfiring," Lance groaned a feeling of dread creeping into his stomach.

"They wouldn't," Kitty stammered. "They couldn't be. Both of them wouldn't be spying on us! Would they?"

"PREPARE TO DIE BLOB!" A very angry and familiar voice rang from the kitchen. 

"OH YEAH, LIKE YOU COULD BEAT ME IN A FOOD FIGHT!" Another voice shouted. Several people ran in terror as several articles of food flung out of the kitchen at high speeds. "KEEP IT COMING RED! I LOVE FAST FOOD!"

BOOOM!

"Oh no," Lance covered his eyes when he saw the fireworks in the parking lot. "Can we sneak out the back and pretend this night never happened?"

"Good idea," Kitty grumbled as a red beam shot from nowhere outside the window. 


End file.
